Competition is always a good thing in professional wrestling, as the popular Monday Night Wars between WWE and WCW showed and with the rise of AEW, competition is right around the corner again.
After years of WWE being the only game in town, times are changing in the professional wrestling world, AEW is already growing rapidly and creating some serious pressure on Vince McMahon's company.
If the recent poor attendances of Stomping Grounds are anything to go by, WWE is already struggling in this war. All whilst AEW sells out yet another event with over 80,000 people left without a ticket waiting on the website.
Even though Vince McMahon has yet to publicly state that AEW is competition, it is a company he will very much be keeping an eye on and as the pressure mounts, WWE will be forced into changing its habits in order to remain the number one in the ratings.
With arguably the most talented roster in WWE history, there should be no excuses for Vince to make WWE the most exciting wrestling company in the world, but what changes could take place?
10 10. More Tag Team Wrestling
One of the major focuses for AEW is changing the tag team wrestling landscape, with the Young Bucks promising to make AEW's division part of the main event scene, signing some of the best teams in wrestling right now.
On the other hand, WWE's tag team landscape has been incredibly poor in the past year, with WWE paying very little attention to the division, which can be seen by the fact they are barely featured and don't get much PPV time.
Well, expect all of that to change. WWE is certainly going to focus plenty of time on the tag team division, which is why major names such as Daniel Bryan have been shuffled into it, whilst top NXT teams such as The Viking Raiders have also joined the roster.
9 9. More Online Content
Whether it is strictly through the WWE Network itself, or if WWE chooses to use social media platforms like Twitter and YouTube, the company is certainly going to increase its online content in the next few months.
AEW relies upon social media to drum up interest and the company has thrived by promoting its matches on Being The Elite on YouTube, showing the power that the platform can bring to a company.
Whilst WWE won't create a show like that, it will certainly start using social media more, which is one of the major reasons that the 24:7 Championship has been created, hoping to engage the audience even when WWE isn't on the television.
8 8. Wrestlers Standing Up For Themselves
This isn't really something that WWE can force to happen but is something that the company certainly won't stop its talents from doing. Most wrestlers in AEW are very vocal about their company being the absolute best, yet it's rare you hear that from the other camp.
However, with a serious competition that is all expected to change, and it has already been seen on social media with Seth Rollins. The former Shield man has made it clear that he believes he is the best in the world and that WWE produces the best wrestling.
Rollins' comments have sparked a major debate online with the likes of Will Ospreay and Chris Jericho both getting involved. Seeing WWE Superstars stand up and be proud of themselves and bat for their team is something that is going to happen more and more, and will keep things very interesting.
7 7. Pushing Underused Talent
WWE's roster is absolutely loaded right now, with the company having more talent than they have air time to do things with. However, with another legitimate company in town, WWE has to be careful in just letting people sit in catering.
The company has already lost Chris Jericho, Tye Dillinger, and Dean Ambrose to AEW, and other major names such as The Revival and Sasha Banks have been rumored to also be interested in a move to AEW.
Names such as Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, and Shinsuke Nakamura can now no longer be left sat around, especially those with ties with former Bullet Club members and therefore you can expect WWE to start bringing some names out of the woodwork you may have forgotten about.
6 6. Less Scripting
This could be something that WWE is incredibly hesitant to do as the company has really micro-managed promos as of late, but it might be something that needs to happen to keep talent happy and to have more creative moments on television.
However, back in the Monday Night Wars, talents such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock were not heavily scripted, and this created megastars that WWE has failed to recreate since then.
With AEW certainly having a less restrictive rule for creativity and promos, the chances are that WWE will follow suit, at least with the main event talents.
5 5. A Focus On The UK
WWE wasted little time in providing some real direct competition to AEW's next major PPV, which is ALL OUT at the end of August by announcing that there would be a new NXT UK Takeover on the very same day.
UK fans have waited patiently for WWE to bring one of its major PPVs into the country, but despite being one of WWE's best markets, the company just hasn't seemed interested. Yet AEW has made it pretty clear from the get-go that a UK PPV is coming, which has immediately helped reach a huge audience across the pond.
This is something that WWE has to be careful about, which is why it isn't a surprise to see them pushing NXT UK much harder with another Takeover, which could be the first of many big UK shows in the next year.
4 4. No More Brand Split
This might not be something that fans actually want to see, but it is something that WWE is going to make happen regardless, with the brand split very likely coming to an end in the next few months.
WWE has already started to get rid of the brand split by having the wildcard rule, which has since changed to just as many wrestlers appearing on the other show as possible, with there being no set brands as the lines have blurred so much.
The thought process behind this is that there will be a megastar on every single episode of Raw and SmackDown, making them must-see shows, which should help improve the product, in theory.
3 3. More Surprises
AEW didn't waste any time in pulling out a major surprise at Double or Nothing with former WWE Champion, Jon Moxley (aka Dean Ambrose) making his debut for the company by attacking Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega.
But WWE has quickly responded, creating several major surprises in order to prove that you can't miss a single episode. The Undertaker has returned twice recently and that has kept fans guessing about what might happen.
If WWE can keep pulling out major surprises, then fans will start to forgive some of the ridiculous decisions that get made along the way.
2 2. NXT Becomes An Official Third Brand
This is something that has been rumored about for a while now, long before AEW was even a thought in someone's imagination. However, AEW's rise could be the spark that sets the entire thing into motion.
Triple H has long since claimed that NXT is an official third brand on a level playing field with Raw and SmackDown Live, but that isn't how the fans see it. With smaller attendances and the show being kept on the WWE Network, it still feels very much like developmental.
But with the new partnership with FOX, there could very easily be a slot opening up for NXT to get an hour of prime time television that would firmly plant it as a third brand. Considering that NXT's style is most like AEW, this could be WWE's way of bringing fans away and back to them.
1 1. More Wrestling
One of the biggest changes that can be expected is that WWE will actually focus on producing more in-ring wrestling, rather than having Raw and SmackDown be dominated by promos or backstage segments.
AEW's biggest strength is that it is going to be a very wrestling orientated product, with wins and losses meaning something and talent being able to showcase exactly how good they are in-between the ropes.
WWE does allow its wrestlers to do that at times, but if Stomping Grounds is anything to go by, then the company is going to give them more freedom in the ring to really express themselves, which will help the product immensely.